Just another News Press

Government Ethics Office Releases Trump’s Latest Financial Disclosure

President Donald Trump had personal liabilities of at least US$315.6 million (S$436.49 million) to German, U.S. and other lenders as of mid-2017, according to a federal financial disclosure form released late on Friday by the US Office of Government Ethics.”President Trump welcomed the opportunity to voluntarily file his personal financial disclosure form”, the White House spokesman’s office said in an emailed statement.According to his financial disclosure, Trump has assets of at least $1.4 billion and income of at least $596.3 million in the 2016 calendar year.The new filing shows that Trump had at least $310 million in liabilities spread across 16 loans, majority mortgages, an amount similar to what he reported in his prior financial disclosure.President Trump offered a rare glimpse into his finances last night, revealing that he made almost $300 million from golf courses a year ago and $37 million from the Florida country club he has rebranded the “Winter White House”.Those returns provide more precise financial information than the disclosure forms that have broad ranges for income, assets and debts.Because the new disclosure includes a four-and-a-half-month period covered by his last report, it is hard to precisely gauge whether revenue at Trump’s businesses has gone up or down.His book “The Art of the Deal” is having a comeback.Trump also earned $14 million and $12 million from his overseas golf courses in Turnberry, Scotland, and Doonbeg, Ireland.He reported $19.7 million in income from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, about $800,000 less than in the previous filing.Mr. Trump declared $19,666,129 in “hotel-related revenue” from the Washington, D.C. Trump International Hotel, which was opened in mid-September 2016. While his initial report showed royalties totaling, at a maximum, just more than $165,000, that maximum total increased to more than $6.16 million in last year’s filing and more than $7.06 million in Friday’s edition. He has still not released his tax returns. The reports show those three ventures run in the red, suggesting that his disclosure of at least $528.9 million in income is inflated.He also earned $11m from the Miss Universepageant, after selling the beauty contest in 2015.One marquis property showing income gain is the Palm Beach resort called the Mar-A-Lago Club, which Trump calls his southern White House and it doubled its initiation fees to $200,000 in January, weeks before Trump took office. The report revealed that the president’s net worth is at least $1.1 billion and that he owes $320 million to the banks.But he did not divest, instead placing his enormous portfolio of financial assets in a trust controlled by the executive and Donald Trump Jr.Critics have pointed to Trump’s hotel in DC as a conflict of interest, and he has been sued twice for violations of the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution over the hotel. Any business profits will ultimately accrue to him when he leaves office.